This invention relates to a container for slides and an apparatus for automatically packaging the slides in the container.
In photographic laboratories it is known to package the mounted slides originating from one and the same photographic film either in a rigid box or in a foldable display case comprising pockets.
When packaged in this manner, the slides are inserted into the socalled processing envelope, to be returned to the shop from which they came.
This box container has certain drawbacks, and in particular:
a size and weight which substantially affect transport and storage costs,
the need to use one box for each photographic film, independently of the number of slides obtained from that film,
a certain laboriousness in closing the box on termination of packaging, and a contribution in terms of cost per slide for this operation which is inversely proportional to the number of slides contained in the box,
difficulty in inserting the box into the conventional processing envelope because of the size of said box,
the inability of the user to view the slides without extracting them one by one from the box into which they have been inserted,
the impossibility of filing the slides in ring-type holders.
The foldable display case with individual pockets substantially obviates the drawbacks of box containers, but has other drawbacks such as operational slowness deriving from the need to manually insert each slide into the corresponding pocket.